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Sacred Spaces, Public Places: The Intersection Of Religion And Space In Three Chicago Communities, 1869-1932, Elizabeth Hoffman Ransford

Dissertations

Manifestations of religion in the built environment and in conceptions of space illuminate a variety of cultural impulses. As the most tangible display of religion on the landscape, religious structures embody and shape the theological understandings, cultural assumptions, and social aspirations of believers; sacred buildings convey how congregations perceive themselves and how they aspire to be perceived by others. Moreover, because houses of worship serve as visible markers of the cultural authority and political status of their builders, religious structures also reflect the secular values and aesthetic fashions of the public sphere. In less materially tangible ways, religious groups' engagement …

Turmoil, Tirades And Transformation: The Wars For The National History Standards 1991-2004, Phyllis Margaret Henry

Dissertations

This document presents a research project in the format of an historical narrative that chronicles the issues, process of consensus, and the impact of the National History Standards Project (NHSP) on local policies and curricula in history education. The influence of the voluntary national history standards movement is chronicled with the local development of social science standards-based curricula with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

This dissertation is a case study that utilizes multiple sources of research such as archival primary sources, oral history interviews and participant observations to corroborate the evidence. The …

An Historical Analysis Of The Chicago Public Schools Desegregation Consent Decree (1980 - 2006): Establishing Its Relationship With The Brown V. Board Case Of 1954 And The Implications Of Its Implementation On Educational Leadership, Shawn L. Jackson

Dissertations

This study provides an historical analysis of the Chicago Public School Desegregation Consent Decree, while illustrating its relationship with the Brown v. Board of 1954. It provides and analysis of the mission and objectives of all three versions of the Consent Decree which include: The Original Consent Decree 1980, The Modified Consent Decree 2004, and The Second Amended Decree 2006. The study also provides an account of the Brown v. Board case of 1954, defining the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the conduits between the landmark case and the Chicago …

Homeplace Of Hands: Fractal Performativity Of Vulnerable Resistance, Diana L. Tigerlily

Dissertations

Homeplace of Hands: Fractal Performativity of Vulnerable Resistance is a feminist autoethnography of possibility that puts on display two new concepts I’ve named fractal performativity and vulnerable resistance. Fractal performativity as a way of seeing is an integrative performance methodology that utilizes fractal geometry and performative autoethnography and brings together performance studies, feminist theory, multiethnic literature, personal story and poetry to communicate vulnerable resistance as a strategy for social transformation and selfhood. Vulnerable resistance as a way of being embodies a praxis of homeplace enacted through five modes I’ve identified as nurturance, sustenance, maintenance, performance, and alliance, expressed through the …

Informing A Transformative Multicultural Approach: Seeking A Content Form And A Medium For Illinois Indian Resources For Preservice Social Studies Teachers, Dan W. Hechenberger

Dissertations

The demographic imperative drives a fundamental tenet of multicultural education: We must more thoroughly acknowledge US diversity by incorporating authentic ethnic heritage in social studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate recommendations, from three levels of educators, on content form and medium for preservice social studies teachers in using resources for an ethnic minority relevant to the state of Illinois and US history, the Illinois Indians. I also explored how varied participant perspectives informed those recommendations and gave meaning to multicultural education via such content.

Research questions involved perceptions, attributes, and needs of preservice social studies teachers. Data …

Impact Of Missouri Reading Initiative On Student Achievement: An Administrative Perspective, Timothy E. Jamieson

Dissertations

Reading and critical thinking skills are a source of concern when analyzing student achievement relative to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). In Fort Zumwalt, middle school Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test scores in communication arts have not consistently met NCLB requirements. To address this concern, Fort Zumwalt implemented Missouri Reading Initiative (MRI) as a pilot at North Middle School during the 2007-08 school year. Collaborative researchers collected data derived from student test scores on the 2006-07 and 2007-08 communication arts MAP to assess MRI effectiveness. Quantitatively, this study examined the relationship between implementation of MRI and student achievement on the …

Impact Of Missouri Reading Initiative On Student Achievement, Teacher Attitudes, And Perceptions, Katherine R. Kimsey

Dissertations

Reading and critical thinking skills are sources of concern when analyzing student achievement relative to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). In Fort Zumwalt, middle school Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test scores in communication arts have not consistently met NCLB requirements. To address this concern, Fort Zumwalt implemented Missouri Reading Initiative (MRI) as a pilot at North Middle School during the 2007-08 school year. Collaborative researchers collected data derived from student test scores on the 2006-07 and 2007-08 communication arts MAP to assess MRI effectiveness. Quantitatively, this study examined the relationship between implementation of MRI and student achievement on the communication …

Examining Classroom Grades As A Predictor Of Student Achievement On A Criterion- Referenced Test: Telling The Truth, Phillip David Kennedy

Dissertations

American education has made many attempts to reform its structure during the last several decades. Many of these reform efforts have been prompted by global events that implied American education as inferior to other nations’ educational systems. The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act required schools to examine their curriculum, instructional practices, and assessments. The problem was a concern regarding inconsistencies between classroom grades and student achievement (Missouri Assessment Program scores). Therefore classroom grades may be misrepresenting student achievement to colleges, military, or corporations recruiting high school graduates. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between student …

Population Level Conditions As Signals Of Entrepreneurial Opportunities: A Cognitve Synthesis Of The Entrepreneurial Traits And Population Rates Perspectives, Matthew S. Wood

Dissertations

The ecology based environmental perspective implicitly suggests that population level founding rates, dissolution rates, and density levels influence the likelihood that entrepreneurs will launch new ventures within a given population domain. The central idea is that population rates and densities may act as signals to entrepreneurs regarding the viability of a new venture within a given population. Interestingly, whether or not population level factors actually influence the new venture creation process remains an open question. As such, the central purpose of this research is to utilize a cognitive approach to better understand how population level conditions and the individual differences …

Three Essays On Foreign Aid, Poverty And Growth., Aberra Senbeta

Dissertations

This dissertation studies how foreign aid impacts poverty and economic growth and addresses three interrelated issues: whether aid reduces poverty, how aid affects economic growth, and whether the poverty mitigating role of aid depends on the levels of poverty.

The first essay, "Does Foreign Aid Reduce Poverty?" examines the direct effects of foreign aid on poverty in developing countries using dynamic panel estimation techniques. The results suggest that aid has a significant poverty reducing effect even after controlling for average income. The findings are robust to model specification and estimation techniques. The policy implication is that poverty reduction can be …

The Ethnic Identity Of Returning Immigrants To A Pueblo In Yucatan, David Piacenti

Dissertations

This study seeks to understand: 1) motivations for leaving and, if applicable, racialized, segregated environment, which is represented by the returned cholo, whose "urban gangbanger" mentality confronts the traditional, rural ethnic identity. San Francisco also affects the overall perception of immigration and desire for permanent U.S. residence. Of the San Francisco cohort, 42% say immigration is "positive overall." Conversely, 62% of the Kalamazoo cohort says that immigration is "positive overall." Only 29% of the San Francisco cohort desire permanent residence in the U.S. while 54% of the Kalamazoo cohort desire permanent U.S. residence. Therefore, the suburban context of Kalamazoo may …

The Implementation Of Interventions And Strategies For Children Who Struggle With Reading Utilizing The Read 180 Program, Rebecca Josephine Haag Guyne

Dissertations

All children can learn if given the opportunity, correct assistance, and appropriate instruction. Finding the learning tools which will enhance and encourage learning is the ultimate way to make certain that all students can and will learn. Many teachers use their gut instinct to determine the interventions and strategies to present in their classroom. Improvement will only occur for teachers and students when best practice or research based interventions and strategies are not only accessible but utilized correctly on a daily basis. Children with reading disabilities find fluency and reading comprehension a challenge. The most effective method reported in the …

Neon Allegiance, Jason Paul Olsen

Dissertations

This collection of thirty-one poems is built around my personal search for place, the idea of "home," and how it is relationship more than mere geography that defines the places one encounters in a life. In these poems, that idea of "home" ties back to intimate relationships with family and friends, but also with relationships involving culture—both historical and popular—as a whole.

The collection itself is a pastiche of strategies and stylizations, united by a defined and consistent voice. The geographic locations vary—from Las Vegas (where the largest number of poems and energy are focused) to stops in points across …

Metaevaluation Of Hiv/Aids Prevention Intervention Evaluations In Sub Saharan Africa With A Specific Emphasis On Implications For Women And Girls, Tererai Mafukidze Trent

Dissertations

Despite numerous attempts by international agencies to halt the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), nowhere has the impact of HIV/AIDS been felt more acutely than among women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA women account for 59% of adults over the age of 15 living with HIV/AIDS and 76% of those 15-24 who are infected (United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], 2007).

The evidence on gender disparities in infection rates is indisputable; there is an urgent need to identify what is missing in HIV/AIDS prevention interventions: What is the evidence based upon …

Impact Of Preschool Education On Reading Achievement Of Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade Students, Melissa Harvey Clark

Dissertations

This study examines the impact of various types of preschool care and education on the reading achievement of children, kindergarten through fifth grade, who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). The participants in this study are located throughout the United States of America. These students attend public and private schools.

The data for this study were provided by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the U.S. Department of Education. The researcher utilized ECLS-K's Public Use Data File and Electronic Codebook to create an SPSS syntax file in order to determine if …

The Advanced Placement And International Baccalaureate Programs: The Graduates' Perspective, Shannon Saxby Smith

Dissertations

This study was designed to solicit the perspectives of AP and IB graduates who have completed at least one semester of postsecondary education about their experiences while in their respective programs. This study was also conducted to determine whether these IB graduates report that they were better prepared for postsecondary studies than students who participated in the AP program. The researcher was also able to determine whether AP and IB graduates believed they experienced any long-term benefits or detriments by having been in their programs and whether they believed their experiences were worthwhile. Lastly, the researcher was able to determine …

A First Year Program Evaluation Of Language Essentials For Teachers Of Reading And Spelling: The Effect On Student Achievement And Teacher Perception, Danielle C. Vogelsang

Dissertations

An indicator of student achievement is the ability to read. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000) stated that reading comprehension is critically important to the development of children’s reading skills and their ability to obtain an education. The ability to read was found to be both necessary and crucial for academic success. With the adoption of No Child Left Behind, national concern about the quality of our schools and the achievement of all students was as high as it has ever been. The primary purposes of this study were to (a) investigate the impact of the …

In-Group / Out-Group Dynamics And Effectiveness In Partially Distributed Teams, Faina Privman

Dissertations

When organizations collaborate they often do so using partially distributed teams (PDTs). In a Partially Distributed Team there exist at least two distinct sub-groups. In addition, at least one of the sub-groups has two or more members that are geographically co-located. Co-located members can meet face to face; chat in the hallway; have lunch together; and otherwise socialize with one another. On the other hand, remote members must rely on technology to communicate and work together. This distinct characteristic of partially distributed teams makes them especially susceptible to the In-Group / Out Group dynamic (Huang and Ocker, 2006). This dynamic …

Accessibility In Metropolitan Transportation Planning : Visualizing A Gis-Based Measure For Collaborative Planning, Aditi Sarkar

Dissertations

Passed by the US Congress in 1995, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), requires Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to further the trend of collaboration by employing visualization techniques for Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs). In the first part of this two-part research, three New Jersey MPOs are investigated to understand how accessibility is considered by their organizations, how TIPs are evaluated, and how collaborative planning and visualization techniques are used to evaluate TIPs. In the second part of this study, a small segment of a MPO's jurisdiction is selected to develop a visualization of …

Dynamics Of School Playground Use In Low-Income Neighborhoods : Four Case Studies From Newark, New Jersey, Caryn Schneider Yaacov

Dissertations

Physical activity during youth contributes to enhanced health and development, and time spent outdoors is a positive correlate of children's physical activity levels. Despite the importance currently attached to building healthy communities, children in the United States from economically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods often lack access to quality open space. In response to insufficient outdoor play options for children in Newark, New Jersey, several existing inner-city elementary school playgrounds have been rebuilt through public-private partnerships involving the municipal government, school district, and nonprofit agencies. This study explores the extent to which neighborhood children use these renovated playgrounds outside of school hours. …

Retention, Social Promotion, And Dropout Rates In Mississippi, Jennifer Jo Woodruff

Dissertations

There has been much research in the past two decades about the dropout problem in America. Dropout rates have become a focal point for all public schools in the nation largely due to components of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Dropout Prevention Act that associate monetary rewards to schools that raise the graduation completion rates to 90%. The dropout rates for the United States rank the educational system 17th for graduation completion rates among developed countries. Mississippi has repeatedly earned the title of low-ranking among all states in the nation.

Dropping out of high school is followed …

Mapping The Global Landscape In Women's Diasporic Writing, Martha Addante

Dissertations

As a contribution to the theory of cognitive mapping, the dissertation examines the ways in which contemporary novels by women writers of diasporic literature offer new conceptual maps of the present global space. This study argues there is a need for alternative mapping strategies that locate the female diasporic subject within the new global political economy. Fredric Jameson's theory of cognitive mapping and Arjun Appadurai's model of global flows provide a useful framework for mapping global space, yet each must be filtered through a feminist critique and modified by a feminist politics. Ultimately, the dissertation argues for a feminist theory …

Factors Influencing The Environmental Quality Of The Bay Of Saint Louis, Mississippi And Implications For Evolving Coastal Management Policies, Pradnya Ankush Sawant

Dissertations

The Bay of St. Louis, MS is a small northern Gulf of Mexico estuary that has been identified by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) as an impaired waterbody for its designated uses, mainly due to the presence of pollutant pathogens. A systematic study of this estuary was important to understand the behavior and responses of the bay to several natural and anthropogenic forcing factors. A 14- month long study (bimonthly sampling) to evaluate its environmental quality was undertaken from April 2003 to May 2004. Environmental quality was defined as "the health of an ecosystem characterized in terms of …

The Influence Of Organizational And Information Systems Factors On The Effectiveness Of Post-Merger Technology Integration, Gianilda A. Morsell

Dissertations

This dissertation explores how ten specific organizational and information systems factors influence post-merger IS integration success, and the role that degree of IS integration plays in moderating the influence these factors may have on IS integration success. Data were gathered, using a self-administered survey instrument, from senior IS executives at firms that experienced a U.S. public merger greater than $25 million between 2004 and 2007. Support is found for the study's Conceptual Model, indicating that all ten factors in unison influence post-merger IS integration success. The data support the hypotheses that quality of merger planning, quality of communication of merger …

For The Stadium Vendor, Richard Andrew Boada

Dissertations

FOR THE STADIUM VENDOR is an original collection of fifty poems accompanied by a preface.

Intimate Strangers And Estranged Intimates: An Investigation Of The Impact Of Instant Messaging And Short Message Service On The Size And Strength Of Social Networks In Kuwait, Bashaiar Al-Sanaa

Dissertations

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have revolutionized how people experience spatial proximity, reality, and connectivity. These technologies provide inexpensive access to anything and anyone in the world. They also replicate face-to-face interaction in cyber-space and allow for participation in numerous modes of social exchange.

People use Information and communication technologies to write web logs (blogs), send electronic mail (email), socialize through networking sites (such as Facebook and MySpace), text each other through mobile phone Short Message Service (SMS) and chat via online instant messaging (IM).With all these applications, a debate has ignited that actual physical communication is decreasing in favor …

A Study Of Student Achievement In Missouri School Districts That Maintain A Preschool Program, Rebecca L. Bernard

Dissertations

The availability of pre-kindergarten education has increased over the last few years, but public schools often lack consistency in providing a preschool program. In this quantitative study, the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores of schools that offer an in-district preschool program were compared to those schools that do not offer an in-district preschool program. A Null Hypothesis was proposed: the presence of a preschool facility provided by a school district will not affect scores on standardized achievement tests. The percentage of those students who scored advanced or proficient on the MAP test in the areas of Math or Communication Arts …

Middle School Grading Practices And The Ability To Predict Achievement On The Arkansas Benchmark Test, Philip Matthew Summers

Dissertations

After the No Child Left Behind Act was legislated, it became necessary for states to target specific learning goals and then test those objectives. As part of this process, districts began to develop new curricula and evaluate grading practices. For this study, student samples were drawn from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade populations of a Northwest Arkansas Middle School. Samples were disaggregated by grade level for the 2005-2006, 2006- 2007, and 2007-2008 school years. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to test the strength of the independent variable, averaged semester grades, on the dependent variable, Arkansas Benchmark Test scores. A Pearson …

The Naming Of Strays, Erin Elizabeth Smith

Dissertations

The Naming of Strays is a collection of poems that deal with issues of place, gender power, sexual fidelity, and transience. While the majority of the poems are written in free verse, the dissertation also features a handful of formal poems including sonnets, sestinas, and prose poetry. n

The Star Math Test As A Predictor Of Arkansas Benchmark Test Scores, Patricia Anne Conner

Dissertations

With the failure of the legislative branch to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law in 2007 and recent reports that more schools than ever are failing to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress, educators are reviewing practices and curriculum. As a result of federal and state laws, it is necessary to identify an accurate predictor of student achievement prior to the administration of the state-mandated test. For this study, student samples were drawn from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade populations of a Northwest Arkansas Middle School. Samples were separated by grade level and ranked according to the grade equivalency on the …